TNT Sports
Myskina in Kremlin final
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Published 04/10/2003 at 10:36 GMT+1
Fourth seed Anastasia Myskina delighted her homecrowd with a solid straight set win over Israel's Anna Pistolesi, 6-4 6-0, at the Kremlin Cup on Saturday to set up a final clash with second seed Amelie Mauresmo who earlier steamrolled past third seed Elen
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Dementieva, who won successive WTA titles in Shanghai and Bali last month, started brightly, opening up a 4-2 lead, but Mauresmo ran off the next four games to take the first set.
She then strolled through the second set in just 25 minutes as Dementieva's game fell apart.
"I started really well, was very aggressive," said Dementieva. "But at 4-2, I played two sloppy games, just gave the initiative away. I think I was rushing my shots a little bit, trying to finish off points right away."
"But in the second set honestly I just don't think I had the emotional strength to fight for victory."
World number seven Mauresmo, however, did not think it was an easy victory.
"Easy win? No way. It may looked easy, but I think it was a pretty intense first set," said the Frenchwoman, who reached her first Kremlin Cup final on her fourth consecutive appearance in Moscow.
"I lost to her the last time we played in Toronto, but today I was able to adjust a little bit to her game and more importantly I was able to find my rhythm."
Mauresmo lost in last year's semi-finals here to eventual champion Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria.
ESPECIALLY INTRIGUING
Saturday's match was especially intriguing looking ahead to next month's Fed Cup semi-final between Russia and France on the same centre court of Moscow's Olympiisky Sports Complex.
"Well, maybe after today she will be overconfident and I can get a revenge," the Russian said with a wry smile.
"No way," replied Mauresmo when told of Dementieva's answer.
"I don't know if this win will give me a psychological boost hen we play next time. When you face a top player like Dementieva you must approach each match as a new challenge and get ready for anything. So we'll see what happens next time."
Myskina, who last week triumphed at the Leipzig Grand Prix where she beat French and U.S. Open champion Justine Henin- Hardenne in the final, dominated Pistolesi from the baseline to extend her winning streak to seven matches.
"I was trying to finish off the match as quick as I could," said 10th-ranked Myskina, who ran to the VIP stand to receive personal congratulations from former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
On the men's side, Armenia's Sargis Sargsian reached his first final in six years after overpowering American Vincent Spadea 6-2 6-2 in 63 minutes.
Sargsian will now meet another American, Taylor Dent, who edged defending champion Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3 2-6 7-6 in the last match on centre court.
After splitting the first two sets with Mathieu, the hard-hitting American raced away with the third-set tiebreaker 7-1 to record his ninth consecutive win.
"It was a tough match," he said. "Any time you go 7-6 in the third you are pretty much rolling the dice about the outcome.
"Luckily, I pulled out the tiebreak tonight," added Dent, who will be aiming for his third title of the year following victories in Memphis and last week in Bangkok.
Sargsian, appearing in his first semi-final since the Tashkent Open in September 2001, had little trouble against unseeded Spadea.
"Everything went very well today and I don't really know why," said the 58th-ranked Armenian, who eliminated former five-times Kremlin Cup champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and second-seeded Argentine Agustin Calleri in two previous rounds.
"It's been a really good week for me so far."
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